Hort Tips
July -
Edible
Harvest edible flowers in the morning after the dew has dried or just
before sundown. Too much moisture can cause discoloration and loss of
flavor. Leave stems in tact when picking and storing; remove them just
before serving. Store loosely packed flowers in an airtight container
with a moist paper towel folded in the bottom. Eat flowers on the same
day as picked.
Sow seeds for late crops of bush beans, beets, carrots, Chinese cabbage,
cucumbers and corn.
Watch leaves of tomato plants for septoria leaf spot and early blight.
Septoria leaf spot develops on lower leaves as small, circular spots
with gray centers. Early blight appears as small, brown concentric target
spots on older leaves. Both of these diseases start with the lower leaves
and work their way up the plant. Remove leaves with leaf spot or blight
as soon as disease symptoms are seen.
Select herbs for drying. Those that are close to bloom are at their
highest quality. Wash the plants with a garden hose the day before you
plan to harvest them. Factsheet available
Ornamental
Water your plants a few hours before applying a pesticide. Plants that
are drought stressed have less water in their tissues making them more
susceptible to leaf burn after spraying.
Dry flowers now for arrangements. Early season blooms are better for
drying than those in late summer. Cut the flowers during mid-day in
the late bud or early bloom stage. Factsheet available.
Stop pinching back mums around July 4th. This will allow them to develop
flower buds for the fall.
Use a piece of corrugated cardboard as a barrier when spraying a non-selective
herbicide close to desired plants. Make sure the same side of the cardboard
always faces the sprayer when moved from one spot to another.
Did you know that during dry spells a tree might shed up to 10% of
its leaves? The leaf loss reduces water loss through transpiration and
causes little or no harm to the tree.
August:
Edible
Save tomato and pepper seeds. To save tomato seeds, allow the fruit
to fully ripen and scoop out the seeds along with the gel surround them.
Place this in a glass jar with some water. Stir the mixture a couple
times a day – the mixture will ferment and the seeds should sink
to the bottom in about five days. Pour off the liquid, rinse the seeds
and spread them out to dry on paper towels.
Pepper seeds are even easier to save. Allow some fruits to stay on the
plants until they become fully ripe and start to wrinkle. The just remove
the seeds and spread them out to dry.
Sow a cover crop to rejuvenate the soil. Factsheet available
Have your soil tested. Soil testing booklet available.
.
Ornamental
Plant pansies in late August for fall color.
Make a rose petal potpourri. To make rose petal potpourri, peel the
petals off one-by-one. Place in a container where air can circulate
and allow the petals to dry out completely.
After drying, add 2 to 3 drops of a matching fragrance and mix. For
a more natural fragrance potpourri, brandy can be used to dampen the
petals.
Attractive additions to rose petal potpourri can be delphinium blooms,
lavender or rose leaves. If you can spare them, make the potpourri more
luxurious by adding whole rosebuds or arranging them on the top.
The potpourri can be placed in a pretty dish or used in sachets; potpourri
adds color and fragrance to your home and makes wonderful use of the
rose garden long into the winter season.
Prepare and preserve gourds for a fall display. Factsheet available.
Renovate or seed lawn from August 15 – September 15. Factsheet
available.
Indoor
Make a sticky trap to catch whiteflies indoors. To make a re-useable
trap take an old pane of glass and spray one side with bright yellow
paint. When the paint is dry, spread a very thin coat of motor oil on
the unpainted side. Now place the piece of glass with the oil side up
near infested plants. The whiteflies attracted by the yellow color will
get stuck in the oil. Every month or so, wipe the glass clean and apply
a fresh coat of oil.
Propagate African violets. Use a quality soil mix and soak it with
warm water, allowing the water to drain so that the soil is moist, but
not sopping. Select a healthy young leaf that has reached its full size.
Using a clean, very sharp knife or razorblade, make a diagonal cut in
the stem one and a half to two inches from the base of the leaf.
Poke a shallow hole in the soil mix at a low angle and insert the leaf
stem. The leaf should be almost flat against the soil and up to a half
inch of its stem should be in the soil. Firm the soil around the stem,
put the container in a plastic bag, close the bag and set the container
in a spot that is warm but not hot, light but not sunny.
In five to six weeks, new shoots should appear. When these new plantlets
are about one-third the height of the original leaf, open the bag and
allow them to adjust to room conditions for a few days. Afterwards,
separate the plantlets from the parent and transplant them to their
own containers.
Try these houseplants for low light conditions:
Aglaonema or “Chinese Evergreen”
Sansevieria or “snake plant”
Aspidistra or “Cast-iron plant”
Cyrtomium falcatum or “Rochford holly fern”
Kentia palm and Parlor palm
Water houseplants while on vacation. A temporary self-watering system
in the bathtub may be just the solution. All you need is an old dish
drying rack, some white cotton shoelaces and a bathroom that receives
some natural light.
Set the dish rack upside-down in the tub and place the plants without
their saucers on the rack. Poke the end of the shoelace into the soil
mix through the drainage hole of each pot, pushing the lace in far enough
that some of the fabric portion is in contact with the soil. Let the other
end of the shoelace dangle into the tub. Run a few inches of cool water
into the tub. The dangling shoelace acts as a wick, drawing water up from
the tub to the soil mix, keeping your houseplants from drying out while
you’re away.
Summer 2003
Hort Shorts | Hort Tips |
Did You Know… | Did Winter
Kill My Trees? | Unlocking the Medicinal Secrets
in Plants | Herb of the Year 2003: Basil |
Bug Bites: Carpenter Ants in Trees | Cybergarden
Sites | Lawn Care Calendar | Tomatoes:
Can, Freeze or Dry | Fruits With Bad Seeds
| Trans Fat on the Food Label | Health
& Household Tips
Index
| Feedback
